The Northwest Heroon
Architects Ebru Torun (KULeuven) and Tom Verbist (Center Lemaire, KULeuven) continued their work, financed by the Arco Group, on the restoration of the Augustan Northwest Heroon. The whole socle (lower wall), to which the famous frieze of the dancing girls belonged, now has been completed up to the level below the platform of the temple-like structure above it. Only one small fragment of the southern upper molding of the socle is missing. The removal of temporary scaffolding allowed us to take photographs of this very impressive socle and enhanced the beauty of the whole structure. The socle will be dismantled again, but toward the end of the week we have started to put the infill in (mortared rubble) at the level of the dancing girls frieze.

The east side of the Northwest Heroon after the removal of the temporary scaffolding, the south side up to the level below the stylobate of the upper naiskos, and the west side of the socle up to the stylobate

The Antonine Nymphaeum on the Upper Agora
Engineer Semih Ercan (KULeuven) aided by architects Özge Basagaç, Serpil Uyar, Emrah Kösgeroglu (all Middle Eastern Technical University, Ankara) and architect-conservator Sebahattin Küçük (Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul) continued their work on the back wall and the columns of the Antonine nymphaeum, the restoration of which is financed by the KBC Bank and Insurances, by the L. Baert-Hofman Fund, and by F. Renier, all from Belgium. This week the fourth arch was placed correctly and a cast of the missing lower right stone was made for future reproduction. We have also started to reproduce by means of a pantograph some of the missing parts of the black and white stone columns (from the Dokimeion quarries near Ankara) belonging to the central niche of the building.

On-site conservation
As her workmen continued the conservation of the brick and mortared rubble walls in the large urban villa, Roman Baths, and Lower Agora (cistern and Severan nymphaeum), conservator Paola Pesaresi (Milano) focused on the removal of the incrustations on the mosaic floors on the upper floor of the palatial mansion in the Domestic Area. This work was done in preparation of the eventual lifting of all mosaics. She was aided by Valentina Lini, Nathan Fash (Tufts University), Esin Tekin, and Soner Bellibas (both Istanbul Technical University)

Both rooms have an irregular trapezoidal shape. Through careful cleaning it became clear that in the vestibule the mosaic had been placed and adapted to the room's irregular shape, whereas in the southern part of the waiting lounge the contemporary mosaic floor had been partially cut and repaired by the construction of the southern part of the west wall. This fact possibly reflects an intervention after the A.D. 500 earthquake.

Small finds conservation
As this was the first week of large-scale excavations, the number of finds treated by the small-finds conservation team, directed this year by Emine Koçak, Filiz Zeyveli, and Canan Ustabay (all former scholars of the Ankara Meslek Yüksek Okulu), remained rather small. However, a few dozen coins were cleaned and a lot of pottery fragments from the Potters' Quarter excavations will be completely restored.